Include Your Parrot in Your Will

So you adopted or rehomed (hopefully!) a parrot... or two or three or... Or even if you purchased one- chances are, even if they are a mature parrot, you will outlive them. Many parrot species have a lifespan of anywhere from 30 years for smaller species up to 80 years for larger ones.

Side note: yet another reason parrots are not meant to be in captivity!

What if something happens to you? Will your family keep the birds out of obligation, when they are not really bird people and be unable to give them the care they need? Would your family, with good intention but out of ignorance, put a craigslist ad on and give your companion to the most interested party? These are important things to consider. I would rather my birds be rehomed with a highly qualified, well screened, well funded and experienced bird person that I've never met than be in a trapped realtionship on both ends with a family member. Not that my family wouldn't love my birds and take good care of them, but they are not bird people and shouldn't have to be if they don't choose it.

Parrots are not like dogs. Or cats. As we all know they take alot of time, effort, energy, and money in comparison. They bite, they scream, they can be hormonoal, territorial, they poop everywhere, destroy things, etc. Keep this in mind. It's not feasible for the majority of people to take this on. It is very very important that you include your pets and especially your parrots, in your will. Even if you're younger, anything could happen at any time. You don't have to see a lawyer. Just something simple out, sign it, and get in writing some directives about what you want for your parrots in the event you outlive them.

Things to consider-

-Do you have an experienced bird family member or friend who would be willing to adopt them in the event of a death? (You should definitely ask them to make sure!)- If so, you're a luck lucky duck!

-Did you adopt your bird from a rescue? Many rescues have written in your adoption contract that the bird must go back to them in the event of you being unable to keep him/her. I have this written in my will regarding Gracie and a provision that if her rescue can't take her, they be permitted (if willing) to place her appropriately while my family fostered her.

-Even if you didn't adopt from a rescue, you can check with your local rescue to see if they're generally willing to help place parrots while a family or friend fosters temporarily.

-Seriously consider making some financial provisions, if possible, for anyone taking in your birds. You could say that a percentage of proceeds from your estate go to the person taking in your brids. Or you can designate that in leiu of flowers at your funeral or memorial, that money should be donated to that person or rescue. Remember that's a LIFETIME of additional mouths they have to feed.

-The same goes for rescues who agree to assist- it would be awesome to designate donations to them for their assistane and willingness to help.

Don't leave your parrots (and your family and friends!) high in dry in the case of a tragedy. Even if you don't have a will, just write out directives for your parrots. DO IT!

Gracie is my soulmate.

Every time I look at Gracie, I'm in awe that she's finally here!!!! I keep wanting to write an entry here but I have just been spending every free moment loving on Gracie. When I'm not home, I'm thinking about and missing her!

She's been getting around St. Louis already. She's gone to Starbucks, the pet store, Francis Park, Willmore park, to my dad's house in West County, and even to a roller derby practice! She is having a blast so far and so am I.

April jokes about the difference between when I'm gone and I'm home. Gracie is apparenty very active in her cage, eating, foraging, playing with toys, getting around to all of her perches, etc. And when April takes her out when I'm gone, Gracie just wants to run around the couch or wherever April has her. The minute I get home, she comes up to her front perch (pics of cage to come!) and starts coo'ing at me! She goes into baby mode. She wants nothing to do with any of her toys- she just wants to come with me. I open the cage door and she starts lifting her side up, trying to step on my hand, even if it's not under her yet. lol.

I then give her kisses and petting and hold her to my chest like a baby. She coo's and coo's at me for the rest of the night. She expresses no interest in getting off of my chest at any point. Well, unless I'm eating, in which case she wants to share.

It's amazing that even Lola loves her. Lola will not even be on the couch when Sid or Gus are with me. She wants nothing to do with them whatsoever. They've never bitten her or ran after her or anything. From the day she set sight on them, she knew she was not a bird dog! However, when I have Gracie on my chest, Lola will sleep right on my lap or beside us. It's like she senses Gracie's gentle soul.

Gracie loves food! She wants to try all of it, no matter what it is. This seems to be a common Eclectus thing. She is, as is also common for her species, a super messy eater. Her mash ends up everywhere! I have to wipe down her cage and the walls daily. It's hilarious how far she can fling the mash lol. At night, though, I put her in a plastic basket with a towl and she eats her dinner while I eat mine on the couch. Then I can just run the basket under the faucet for cleaning. She likes eating with me and visa versa. Unless Sid and Gus who are in their little food craze and will try to bite your finger if you come near them while they're eating :)

I took Gracie to roller derby practice last week. I wasn't sure how she'd feel about the noise and the movement of 50 girls skating by at fast speeds. But she seemed very interested in the whole thing and watched on intently. She also liked all the new friends she made, except Davey Blockit, who was scared of her to begin with so I think Gracie sensed that. She made it clear, in her gentle way, that she did not want to be petted by Davey. And that's a-ok with me :).

I knew that Gracie was very special. But I could never have imagined this. She is an indescribable angel. I have never ever met an animal like her. Ever. She can act like a little baby but then has this wisdom... You can see in her eyes that she's an old soul. She's gentle and accepting but she makes it clear what she wants and does not. Her vocalizations are literally heart melting. She likes most everyone she meets and I swear she almost looks offended if someone passes without addressing her. She tells you what she needs and how to handle her.

At many people's request, Gracie has a Facebook Fan page now. Become a fan and follow her adventures. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gracie-the-Wonder-Ekkie/117889028233791

I also added some pics of her on my Flickr Set
http://www.flickr.com/activistkate

More to come later!

I have been waiting on posting anything, just in case, I didn't want to jinx it, but now that everything is set up.....at this time in 2 weeks, GRACIE WILL BE HOME (as long as she doesn't hate me!!!)!!!

Take a look at my beautiful girl!!!



Yes, she is a special needs bird, but that doesn't keep her from doing everything everyone else can. She's just a little slower getting there;) We're in no rush over here and my heart just fills with love everytime I think about little Gracie.

I will write more later!!! Sleepy....

The Lazy Way to Make Your Bird Happy- Chapter 1- TOYS!

Alot of bird parents put a toy or two in their bird's cage and think that's good enough for the bird's lifespan. Imagine if you were kept in a room for 30 years with only a couple things to do. No wonder our birds develop behavrioral issues! They're bored to the point of insanity!

Or they might buy them a new toy every year or so just for a treat. Just to put this into perspective for you- depending the species and region, most birds in the wild fly miles a day, hitting up all different types of places, foraging for their food, pretty much for 8 hours. They see lots of different things, different places, and are constantly in a changing environment. So compare that to sitting in a cage all day with one or two toys, eating out of a dish. Painfully B-O-R-I-N-G and overall just really bad for your bird on many many levels. Frankly, nothing that we ever do will ever provide them with equivalent enrichment. But since humans have decided to bring these creatures into homes, it's our job to *do our best* to make sure they're as happy as they can be.

Making toys on toy making day!

I try to make sure my birds have a new variety of toys at least every 2-3 days, depending on what the toys are and how into them they are. If they are just having a great time with a particular toy seemingly daily, I'll
leave it in for longer. And I do leave Gus' favorite toy in year round, because he's a quaker and had an anxiety fit if I don't. But everything else gets constantly rotated. "But Kate," you say- "My bird isn't interested in toys!" Alas, to this I say "keep trying!" I was told that Sid was toy phobic. He wasn't, but he was definitely not happy about being presented with most. So for the first month he was here, I'd hang toys a few feet from his cage for a few days.Then I'd put it on the outside of his cage. If he seemed interested, I would just put it in his cage. if not, I'd leave it there until he did seem itnerested. I still have to do that with some toys, but most I can now just put right in and he'll go right to it within 5 minutes. It's especially helpful if I have him *WATCH* me stick a treat somewhere in it. Another thing is that sometimes birds won't play with things in front of you. I look for signs that they've been played with if I'm gone- has it moved? Is there any piece that looks disturbed? Also when I am home, I try to peak into the bird area sometimes to see. Most of the toys I thought they hated, they do play with, just in thier own way. Lastly, I would say to change up the types and function of toys. Sid loves toys he can tear up. Gus loves shiney things and things that he can preen. Sid will will rip things up when he forages, Gus likes to pick things out of various items the most. Try everything and be persistant. Also, reward him for going near a toy, if you see him interacting with it in any way. Also, try
playing with it yourself first. Make it seem like the most fun EVER. Do it often. Don't give up!!!!

You don't have to spend alot of money to have a wide variety of toys for your bird. Now, the bigger your bird (or more active your bird), I would say the more you'd have to spend due to their ability to annhiliate a toy in 5 minutes flat, but you still don't have to break the bank to do so if you'd willing to just put in a an hour or two once a month or so. Once a month or so, I bring out several boxes and containers of toy making
parts. This includes treats, paper items such as dixie cups, coin rolls, stuff from the dollar store like fingercuffs, bird safe balls, a roll of hemp twine, a roll of cotton twine, thicker rope, wood that I sawed off of
untreated blocks I bought on the cheap, vine balls, tongue depressors, toilet paper rolls, index cards, straws, half destroyed toy parts or toy parts that were on a toy they didn't go for, and all sorts of other stuff.
And I just sit and make toys while watching a movie. I try to make half of them foraging toys or have some foraging aspect to them, a fourth of them destructable toys, and the other fourth other random toys. Most of the toys are simple and take me a minute or two to make- tops. Bigger/more complicated toys take a little longer. My birds get kind of freaked out by large toys anyways, so most of my toys are super simple and
unintimidating. But you can go as simple or as creative as you want. The advantage to making your own toys is that 1.) You're not spending 10-20 bucks on a toy they may or may not even like 2.) You can put things onthat you KNOW your bird will go for 3.) Most of them are free or very very cheap . Google "Parrot Enrichment" for some great DIY toy making ideas!

Then I try to rotate the toys daily. Now, sometimes if I've seen that they obviously haven't touched a toy, I may leave that one in for a couple days. Sometimes they just need a couple days to decide that it holds interest for them. Some toys just got the birdy thumbs down, so I put their parts back into the parts box for recycling into another toy the next month. Because alot of the time, they just didn't like that toy, but may be interseted in those parts if on different toy. However, you need to clean these. I either soak them or scrub them with 50/50 Vinegar Water depending on what it's made of. This is the only disinfectant that I feel safe using and confident that it will do the job. I know that other people also
use GSE, but I'm old fashioned and like my vinegar!

Toy Making Supplies

EASY ACCESS TO FORAGING SUPPLIES

I start with what I call my "Foraging Filler Tub"- During toy making day, I fill a tub full of different foraging fillers appropriate for their species' size (paper, twine, broken off toy pieces that couldn't really go onto a toy, buttons, river rocks (large enough there's no risk of choking), twigs, larger beads, cotton rope pieces, balls, caps from water bottles, pieces of finger cuffs, etc.) So every day, I can just reach in, grab a handful or two, and throw it on top of some pellets (luckily, they both seem to think that pellets are treats as good as sunflower seeds (YES!!!), so about 5-10% of thier diet ends up being pellets, which is good for Vitamin D supplementation during the winter when I can't get them any sun, and random treats in a tray. Literally takes 5 seconds. Gus LOVES it. I also change the tray type a few times a week to make it interesting. Sid doesn't like foraging trays much, no matter what I put in there. But Gus will visit his over and over throughout the day, as he LOVES ground foraging (which also means I had to drop his cage bottom so he wouldn't forage in his poopy catcher, looking for whatever he's dropped and which also means I a have to be very deliegent about keeping him off of our floors since I never know what the little bugger will find, no matter how clean).

I also make easy destructable foragers ahead of time and put them in a container, filled with fillers from the filler tub and various treats and throw one of those in the cage daily. Dixie cup foragers I put in a variety of locations to increase the challenge (hanging from a perch where so he has to lift with their foot to get it, putting cup inside a foraging cage, doubling or tripling the cups to make it harder, hanging from outside of the cage when I'm gone so they have to really work to get it all out, etc. Another destructiable forager I keep a stock of is that I put half a millet spray through a paper coin holder roll. These are a huge hit with Sid. I also stick other things in there and tie the ends. Another thing is Bird Bagels- I stuff one end with scrinkled gift paper, throw some random treats in the middle, stuff the other side with more paper to hold the treats in.

The third foraging staple I keep in stock is coffee filters. I use the non Bleached ones, throw a bunch of stuff in it, tie it and voila! I also sometimes just fill them random things and non food items like buttons or  maybe just a foot toy. It's like a slot machine. People get addicted because they don't know the outcome. Keep em guessing!!!

HANGING TOY ROTATION

 I have a 30 pocket over the door shoe holder. You can get them at Target for about 7 bucks. You can also use a tie hanger rack, or you can just put a bunch of toys in a container or box or whatever you have sitting around. Whatever works for you. I like my shoe hanger because I can easily grab a new toy, I can see the toy through the clear plastic, and I basically use the 30 pockets to represent 30 days of the month. So I just work through each pocket- row by row until I get to the end and then it's toy making day again! I also can easily put in two toys, specifically if I know Guswill not like a particular toy, I'll put a second one in that might hold more interest for him.

Keeping your bird busy is like keeping a young kid busy- it makes them smarter, better excercised, and alot better behaved all around. Remember, a busy bird is a quiet(er) bird! Enrich your birds life and do it in a way
that doesn't inconvenience your own life- the easier you make things on yourself, the more consistent you'll be in keeping things exciting for your feathered babies. And the less time you fiddle around with stuff daily, the more one and one time you can give them! And don't forget, use toy making time as fun time for your bird too! Let them "help"- yes, it may take you more time but it will likely be great fun! If your bird is a little flightly around new things, put them a few feet away so they can see you making the toys and make it seem like the most fun thing you've ever done.

Eh, who needs a Blackberry?

Gus likes to by my assistant with pretty much whatever I'm doing. He often feels that I'm not doing things well enough and will chatter away at me and whatever I'm moving or touching. He only does this chatter when he's being bossy or for some reason he does it in his food bowl. Or if he decides that he really doesn't like something, he'll just hiss and try to bite it.

It took a long time to get him to stop attacking my phone. He would stalk it, no matter how far away, run and try to kill it. He's so good now that while I'm texting, he sits on my hand right next to it and just watches the screen and my fingers moving, supervising as always. Well I was texting last night and I stopped to look up at something and for some reason, I heard my phone still texting. Confused, I looked down and saw that Gus was imitating the clicking texting noise! That's the first brand new sound he's made in several months! Who needs a Blackberry when you have Gus? He can just text people for me!

So adorable! And such a good assistant

The Gustexting I can get use to, but it would be great if I could talk him into giving up on redesigning my shoes and giving me haircuts when I'm not looking... But apparently he needs to assist me in my fashion life as well.

Big Thumbs Down to "Love Happens"

So we watched "Love Happens" yesterday, which is out on DVD. I actually
enjoyed the movie until it go to the end.

The Cockatoo scene got me in a ruckus. I did enjoy watching the cockatoo
dance around, chasing him, and being ADORABLE. But that's where the
happiness stops.

Ok people- First, that is an entirely inappropriately sized cage for a
bird of that size (and for really any bird). Not to mention it has no toys
or anything to do at all. Ok ok, I know it's a movie, but people think
movies are reality. Second, Cockatoos are not native to SEATTLE! THEY ARE
FROM AUSTRALIA! So even if they're a wild caught imported bird, that is
not their natural habitat and does not resemble it in any way. Third, you
can't just release an animal that you've had as a pet. They have no
earthly clue how to survive in the wild. Fourth, parrots don't have a
homing instinct like pigeons. They're not going to show back up at your
house. If you let your bird go, there's a 99.9% chance it's going to die.
Hopefully once it gets hungry it will find a human who is not an actual
idiot that will take care of it properly.

I just hate when films do this. It's like after Finding Nemo when all the
kids were flushing their fish down the toilet because they "lead to the
ocean."

Grrrrr!!!!!

Foraging Master of the Universe!

So Sid is now turning into a master forager at the beginnger level stuff
I've been doing to teach him how to forage. Which include efforts like
putting things over his food (unbleached coffee filter, twigs, tied off
coffee filter ball ran through plastic link, digging treats out of soft
wood, getting treats out of wood beads, tied off dixie cups, cofee filter
attached to a measuring cup, 2 different types of foraging cages, sea
grass mat, etc etc).

So here's the problem- since he's a little professional now, the minute I
put all his foraging goodies in, he goes right to foraging and then starts
systematically hitting up every one. Within 20-30 minutes, he's done with
them all. Which is great that he's so excited about them, but now I've
gotta up the ante to try to get him to stay occupied. He does play with
toys that aren't foragers, which is good, so I don't need to play 5 or 6
hours with of foraging, but I'd like an average of 3.

So I am planning on buying him some more official foraging toys, however
they're about 20-30 bucks and I'd like to buy him several. The price is
fine, however, right now his solution to getting out treats is destroying
whatever he sees. So that would defeat the purpose if he destroyed the toy
in a day or two. So I'm going to have to teach him how to open things and
work things mechanically without destroying them. I tried giving him a
little plastic capsule that you get out of quarter machines with little
random toys in them. I put an almond in it. It took him a few days to go
for it, but finally he did. After several sepearate failed attempts at
getting to it, which involved shaking it, throwing it, etc., he finally
just ripped it apart. It was obvioussly a bit to complicated for the first
attempt. So my plan is to get another one but cut a hole under the cap so
to make it easier so that he can learn to grab hold and pull the cap off.
I am also going to go get some travel toothbrush covers to see if he can
figure out how to pop the top off of that. I am also going to get this
little slide out guy. I'm aslso going to make a few different homemade
toys that require mechanical stuff- I am planning on sticking a plastic
container cup on a kabob, put the lid on the kabob as well

As a side note, thinking about how happy he seems now with all of his toys
and stuff to do and climb and see and chew, just makes me so happy. But so
so sad that hundreds of thousands of birds like him are just sitting there
like a stuffed animal in complete and utter boredom, for their whole
lives.

Beakin' Beautiful!

 So this is Sid's beak when he first came to live with us (sorry it's fuzzy- it's with the point and shoot). It was flakey, rough, and gross because he had no opportunity to condition his beak since he had no toys, things to chew, etc:

And now that he's learning to play with toys, forage, and destory some fun stuff, check out this mug now:

Nope, we didn't dremel it or do anything to it and this photo is not retouched in any way.

Goooooo Sid! Looking handsome!!!!

Ebay Wins=Birdy Wins!

Look what I won on Ebay today!!!!

Balsa Blocks!!

Won 12 block pieces for 9.50 plus shipping! This will last Sid several weeks after I saw them into pieces. I plan to make some foraging hanging toys and some foot toys!!!!! YES!! I'm getting like 10X the balsa wood that what I'd pay for locally at pet stores. I'm hoping to talk Gus into gnawing on some balsa wood, even though he's kinda "anti-wood"

20 Natural Vine Balls
Won these for 9.50 plus shipping! Cheaper than everywhere I found locally. I don't know that Sid will like these, but I'm almost 90 percent sure they'll be a hit if I throw an almond in there. I can tell you now Gus will want nothing to do with these and will quickly throw this off his cage with much gusto and rage.

Sid's Adventures in Foraging

*I plan on doing full features in the future with pictures, etc to help give people some ideas and what worked for us*

Well recently I started my full on efforts to teach Sid foraging. According to his previous owner, he really had never foraged. According to her, he hated all toys except his one rope toy. And he did just have a
dish of seed that he just ate from. And he chewed on his perches that were made of apple wood. That was it. Since he came to live with us, he's barely touched that rope toy, by the way, but once or twice. I've offered him a variety of toys, some not "official" toys, but he's been very receptive to new things, sometimes it just takes him a few days but he evntually figures it out. But most of the time, he'll go right to a new toy to inspect. Since he's a little piggy, I've noticed that if I can integrate food into it at first, he'll continue to play with that particular item later even if there is no more food. Here are the foragers I've tried this week.

Balsa Wood Pieces- This had been a bird kabob toy. He acted scared of them for a week or two. Then I took the pieces off of the toy, pushed some sunflower seeds and almonds into it a piece of it. It only took him a day to finally figure out to tear it up to get the seeds. He his now tearing up the wood pieces, even without the treats, with vigor, which is awesome to watch him make a glorious mess! He's now eaten all 6 pieces!  I'm in a panic to find more balsa wood quick! So I bud on some on ebay! I'm also planning to make a few bird kabobs for his cage.

Foot toy wood pieces- His own gave me a bag of toy parts that she never used. I put an almond in one of the wood pieces and he went right for it. So I've made a variety of these so that he can have a new one daily or whe never, and they're ready to go.

Plastic Chain/Coffee Filters- This one he went right for the first time I put it in. It's the first foraging toy I offered and it was a hit. I put one filter full of buttons, one of flax seeds, one of almonds. I also
switch it up and put some pellets, or whatever else I can find. I put this in a location that he had to go onto the boing. He's not been scared of the boing, as he'll go on it in a training session, but I haven't really
seen him hanging out on it. Gus loves his but it did take him a long time to get to that point.

Foraging cage- He was initially scared of this, so it's been slowly moving closer to his cage to get him used to it. I put some coffee filter balls full of pellets in it as well as some index card strips. It took him another 3 days after being in his cage for him to touch anything inside, but he likes it now.

Foraging Tray- This was semi successful. For the first round, I put in toilet paper strips, paper, string, sunflower seeds, almonds inside of finger hancuffs, sticks, and buttons. I know that he got a few almonds out
of there but everything else seemed in place, including the sunflower seeds. He's not at fan but I'll keep trying.

Paper fold up toy- I stuck pellets and sunflower seed pieces in this and it took a few days, but he ate huge chunks of this one day. yay!

Shreddable hanging toy- He's not really been interested in this one yet so I put some seeds in this one also. I'll give it a few days and watch.

Small bird nest- These were like a $1.50. He took some stuff out of it but hasn't found the stuff inside yet but he'll figure it out.

Future Plans:

I'd like to get some acrylic and plastic foraging puzzle toys because I
have a feeling he'd be good at them. But I'm stocking up on the things
that have been successful first! Then we'll move on to new things.

His previous owner gave me a huge bag of Birdie Bagels. I want to find
stuff I can stick in there. I have nutriberries but he's not liking those yet.

I am going to buy a bag of shelled nuts, drill a hole in them, and see if
he'll go for them. They're cheap enough and I think they could keep him
occupied.

I really want to invest in a dehydrator. Right now I'm using seeds and
nuts to get him to forage. But if I could get him to eat dehyrdated
veggies and fruit, that would be SO much better for the little porker.

Mash foraging- right now the only foraging opp I have for him with his
mash is the coffee filter or paper on the dish. The problem with mash is
that it's obviously wet, so you're limited in what you can use without the
item getting soaked, or moldy, or even just staying put where you insert
it. There has to be better stuff. Some ideas I have heard: put mash in a
cooked or uncooked whole grain shell (jumbo shells or manicotti or
something), wrap a lettuce or similar leaf around it and tie it, put
things on top of the mash like twigs, rocks, buttons, or beads that he'd
have to throw out to get to his mash, tiny craft flower pots hanging,
stainless steel hanging buckets, and I think that's all I can remember at
the moment.

Kabobs- I want to see if he'll eat some veggies or fruit from a kabob. I'm
going to start offering one and see what happens.

Origami- I told April to relearn some origami so that I can make some
paper foraging toys, since he loves tearing up paper and/or cardstock. I'd
like to make some hanging toys and some foot toys with this method.

Changes I've seen in Sid already-

He's been coming out of his cage in the morning and immediately starts
chewing on stuff and playing. He was previously a little devil in the
morning and it took him an hour or two to even start moving in his cage.
Now, I turn the lights on, uncover gus (not covering Sid yet), open the
cage doors, and he's out getting into stuff!

He leaves no part of his cage or above his cage unexplored throughout the
day, which is GREAT!

He seems to be getting out much more energy and seems alot less moody to
me already. He's still typical bird moody but it seems like he's quicker
to go into a sweet mode, and he seems to be stepping up more readily for
me. He's even started making a few noises for me that he usually only
makes for April!

His beak is starting to look very nice. Before it was all flaky and gross
and really needed a dremel job, bad. But now he's chewing and rubbing his
beak on stuff so it's cleaning up quite nicely!

A Great 24 Hours with Sid!

It's funny to watch my relationship with Sid evolve. As I might have
mentioned before, he LOVES April. The minute she walks through the door,
he's flapping, running around, talking in his little robot voice
(seriously, he sounds like a robot), he tries to get to her, and will
certainly always step up for her. Now, I've been a little jealous of this,
especially considering April does nothing with Sid. I do all the training,
the feeding, giving him treats, trying to play games, etc. She literally
gets home, picks him up for a minute or two, and that's pretty much it. I
think he wants her because she doesn't really care about him either way
(she "cares" about him, I just mean that she's not really interested in
birds or him the way that I am).

My routine on class nights (2 nights a week): I get off of work at 4, get
home around 4:20. I let them out of the cage right when I get home. If
they're in the mood, I'll do a little bit or training. Then I prep their
food, feed them, and leave for class by 5:10. Yeah, the only reason I go
home is for the birds. Now, when I open the cages, Gus comes right out and
is very excited to see me, of course. Sid takes his sweet time coming out.
Sometimes it may take him 15 minutes to come out. Which is fine, what's
the hurry, really? Then, normally when I get close to his cage, he screams
a bit at me, postures a bit, etc. I ignore this and start doing some
clicking with Gus. Even if it's just some stepping up. This immediately
shifts Sid's mood and all of the sudden he wants to play too.

Well last, night, I got home, opened the cages and he bolted out of the
cage. He then came to me for some immediate interaction! We did some step
ups and I gave him lots of treats. We did some retrieve to my hand from
the top of the cage (he usually doesn't like to do it there and just
flings the ball off the cage, but this time he walked all over the the top
of the cage to bring it back to me)! He did amazing! Then we did some more
step ups and some general body touching with c/t. Usually, I have to be
very aware and sensitive to when it seems like he might just be starting
to lose interest in training so that I can be sure to end on a good note.
Well last night, he was just so excited to train, that I couldn't detect
any sort of ensuing lost in interest. I just had to leave for class, which
is why we stopped!

Now, in the mornings, I wake up, start the coffee, and come uncover Gus
and open the cages. Gus is my morning partner in crime. He mostly snuggles
under my chin while I get ready until it's time to put my work clothes in,
in which case he sits there and makes zipper noises while I dress. I thank
him for the assistance. Anyway, I always open Sid's cage, just in case he
wants to come out. Usually he just pretends I don't exist, as I just think
he's not a "morning person." Well this morning, he came right out of the
cage. When I approached, he put his head down for petting! He even stepped
up for me once! That is unheard of for him!

What a great 24 hours!!

That being said, every time Sid takes 5 steps forward, he then takes 1
step backwards, which is ok. I just can't let the 1 step upset me to where
I lose sight of the 5 steps!

YAWN! Time for bed Sid!

Yawn 1
Originally uploaded by activistkate

While this may look like he's about to attack, it's actually Sid yawning. I though it was funny that I caught it straight on. Right now, it's 11pm and he's still up because April just got home and he loooooveess April.

Sid has been a good little guy today. He ate his food, tore up some toilet paper rolls, punched holes in some index cards, and explored walking on a piece of paper that I put on top of his cage. It's so funny watching him do things he's obviously never done before. Last night he even climbed down to he bottom of his cage to pull a few almonds out of a coffee filter foraging toy I made him. It was like he was walking in slow motion, waiting for disaster to strike at every step. But alas, all was well and safe and he repeated the process several times to get more almonds. We pretended not to watch, of course, because then he'd certainly stop. So this week he's gone in his new

cage voluntarily, explored the entire cage, inside and out, succeded in getting almonds out of a foraging toy, climbed his java tree perch on the top of his cage, mastered retireve, rung a bell, tore up a toilet paper, tore up index cards, and took a shower on his shower perch. What an adventureous little guy for a Senegal who was described as phobic, aggressive, and not tame.

He's adjusting well and we're really proud of him.

Sid's Cage After

Sid's New Mansion 1
Originally uploaded by activistkate

TADA!!!!! He went right into it. I think that he thought it was Gus' cage because he went right in, ate some food, took a nap, and acted like it's always been his cage. When I'm gone during the day, I do put up a barrier between their cages because Gus has been a little terirotirally aggressive and bitey when I get home. He's getting better though. I don't think we'll have to do that much longer though.

Sid's Cage Before

First day of cage by cage time
Originally uploaded by activistkate

This is Sid' old cage next to Gus'. Sid definitely needed a nice big cage. They say that a cage should always be AT MINIMUM 1.5X the wingspan of the bird. I think that the bigger the better. These cages are so cheap for their size. I got this one for $134US plus tax, on sale, from Varieties Bird Shop here in St. Louis. You can also find these only for about 150 with shipping. Now, if your bird is very into biting or chewing bars, then I wouldn't recommend these. But for any other smaller bird, I totally recommend this cage! It's A&E Model 13221 and they come in various colors

Retrieve: Part 2

So when I got home from work it was training time! Sid sat in my lap again after a few clicks, was picking up the balls for quite a while. I know with this they are supposded to be putting the ball in your hand but I just don't know how comfy he is with my hands moving all around him. So I offered this small white bowl that he's been around before. After around 3 broken down steps in clicking, he was putting it into the bowl. It was so awesome just watching him thinking about what he was doing, analyzing and problem solving... it was exhilirating and it felt really great. I'll try to get April to take pics at some point, because I certainly couldn't spare a hand.

Gus actually tried fresh food today!!! Which gets us that much closer to doing some real clicking, since prior to this he wanted nothing to do with real food. Just pellets. But we did some targeting and he did a great job!!! We're still working on strengthening our step up, which half of the time, he seems to thinks means "preen mom's hand" time.

Retrieve! Part 1

So Sid has deifnitely mastered targeting! He doesn't run to target or anything, he takes his time. But he gets there and gets the job done. So I decided to move onto retrieve.

Such a smart birdy!!! I was a little concerned about this behavior because anything I put near Sid when he was on top of his cage, he would run from (small ball, ball of crumbled paper, small plastic ring, bottle caps, etc). I was hoping to find any object he would be interested in checking out on his own. Well last night, Sid was sitting on my lap. April brought one of the balls over that he had previously run from. She just held it while sitting next to us and Sid was fine. She put the ball in my lap and after a few seconds, he touched it with his beak. After one C/T, he was picking it up for 1 second. After a few reps, he was holding it for 3 seconds! I stopped after that so we could end on a good note.

1/18- Morning- Ok ok, I know I vowed no training in the morning, but he acts like he wants to train in the morning. Or I'm just *thinking* that he looks like he wants to train. He did, after sitting there for 15 or so seconds, pick up the ball. He picked it up 3 times and we stopped because it was like in slow motion.

I'm really hoping he adjusts to my wake up schedule because it would be nice to get a training session in before work. That would mean at minimumm, on my busiest days, I could get 3 sessions in per day. But that's not really up to me. lol. His best time for pretty much anything- training, affection, etc is around 8pm. I don't know why, but that's when he's the most alert. Now around 10pm, he starts getting feisty. I think that may be because April gets home then and he wants to mate with her.

It's interesting how different he is with April and I. There seems to be this trend amoung our pets- Gus and Gabby both have this odd obsession with her- Gus wants to mate with her and always tries to birdy hump her if she's holding him for longer than a minute or two. She is the item of obsession for Gabby the Bichon Frise, who follows her around like her shadow. And now Sid wants to mate with her. Lola's the only one who doesn't have a wierd thing with her- she's still my baby and will always choose to stay with me if April's in another room, etc. However, all the animals listen to me way more than they listen to her. I'm not sure if it's a thing where they are reading our energy or what. April's not had much experience with animals growing up, although she loves animals. I think animals feel the need to be alpha over her. Either that or it's some sort of weird hormonal thing she gives off. Who knows.

For Sid, he doesn't talk much to me. He makes little nosies for me and such but literally the minute April walks in the door, he starts talking up a storm in his little robot voice. Now, he won't train as well with her (I think because he's distracted by wanting to mate with her).
All my furry and feathered kids can have their favorites, as long as they'll come to and work for both of us and don't become aggressive towards the other. That's why it will be important for us to work with Sid consistently.

In other news- this week, I've got to go pick up my camera at my Dad's so I can start taking better pictures. My little crap camera is driving me crazy with the crappy quality. I just reinstalled Photoshop and Lightroom on my new netbook for this purpose.

Week 2- Sid Vicious

Alright so I'm trying to post more but I always forget. So we're been working on trustbuilding with Sid. He's been doing quite well with target training. He's not in a huge rush to get to the target, but he will take up to 10 or so steps to get to the target. He won't climb around on his cage to get to it, but he also won't climb on his cage to get to food, so I just think he hasn't had the chance to climb around on the outside of his cage much.

We've also been working alot on stepping up. He knew the word from his last home but he would only offer them when he wanted, which was rare. I didn't push him, he's entitled to not want to come to me. The trick is to get him to eventually think that my hand is the best place on the earth to be, so he'll (ideally) always want to be on my hand when it's offered. Part of this process is also gaining trust with Sid. Sid has no reason to trust me. All he knows is that I appeared, took him away from all he knew, and took him to a new scarey place.

So target training makes hand taming a much smoother process and helps to avoid recieving a bite. One of my biggest goals through this taming process has been... not to get bitten. Not because I was scared to get bitten, but more because I didn't want him to ever associate my hand with biting. I just never wanted to have that kind of precidence.

Well for whatever reason, last night, Sid finally started to trust me. And I got proof on camera!! Drum roll please....

I just couldn't believe this. He let me touch every part of his body. He even let me clean up his beak a little (it's been driving me nuts- his beak has been so messy!)!! I am so proud of his breakthrough. It's amazing how far animals can come in such a short time with a little love and patience. It's funny because Gus is my little lover but it took me months to get to this point with him. Sid gets here in a little over a week!

Now, just because we had this breakthrough doesn't mean we stop working. This is just the beginning because now we've started to move past any fear or hesitation from just being around a new person, now we just keep learning more together!

Now we really get into the nitty gritty. Now if I could only find a ball that he doesn't run from, we can start working on retrieve!!!

Day 2 of Trustbuilding with Sid

2pm- Well, last night before putting Sid to bed, April got home from work and went in and sat next to his cage. He was jumping around all over the cage, seemingly excited! Which is like 900X more movement than he did in the 12 hours prior with me! Then, apparently he regurgitated for her. wtf! I have to say I was kinda jealous and slightly depressed. lol

So, as recommended by the clicker forum, I took his food out of his cage before he went to bed to ensure he'd be a bit hungry in the morning. I woke up 30 minutes earlier than usual to start some clicker training.

First off, he slept the entire night upside down, hanging from his cage. That cannot be comfortable! Although I have heard that Senegals have no concept of gravity lol. So anyways, he wanted nothing to do with my training nonsense. He took one piece of apple from me and that was it. He was pretty much in statue bird mode. I did put his potential target stick a little close to him and he wigged out. So I'm thinking about waiting a few more days to where he's more comfy with me before trying targeting again since I don't want to sent him into a phobic meltdown. I really don't know how phobic he is or isn't, I'm only going by what his previous parents said. He doesn't seem to be phobic like I always picture it to be when I think of super phobic African Greys. He's interested in Gus, he's becoming more interested in us, he is not at all scared of either of my dogs... So I don't know.

So when I got home from work today, I opened the cage door and sat on the bed to do some net surfing on my netbook. And within 15 minutes, he was slowly coming out! He is now on top of the cage and looks like he really really wants to come over here and check things out. I'm not going to push anything so I'm just going to continue to relax here and play hard to get and see what happens. I'm in no hurry and I'd really rather go too slow than too fast. The goal is not to cause even a bite attempt. It's not that I'm afraid of being bitten. It's just that I never want him to equate me with biting or for him to ever know that biting me is a possibility.

9pm- I have officially concluded that Gus is not phobic. I'm sure he has a few things he's phobic about, but he doesn't seem to be phobic in the traditional use of the word. Luckily he is much mroe interested in food today. He also got really close to my bowl of brown rice, rice, salsa, and sour cream. Luckily I planned for this, hoping he'd want some, so I brought a plain brown rice. He seemed to like it! But he also didn't freak out when I put the spoon near him- he came closer to it. Didn't come too close but he did a good job.

He's yet to go back in his cage and has not moved away from me when I've walked past the cage several times to get things in the other room.

Now I've gotta figure a way to entice him back into the cage while not actually putting him in there myself, so that I can go pick up April from work. I think I'm going to try putting a big chunk of apple on his perch inside. We'll see...

Sid Training- Day 1/2 - Day 1

Day ½- January 2, 2010

We got Sid home at about 9pm after our 90 minute drive from Irving, Ill. He hung in Gus’s travel cage- was obviously super stressed but did come to the bar openings for a head rub several times. When we got home, it was a little chaotic for him as we got his cage set up in the bedroom. When I was letting him out to go to his cage, he flew around the room pretty clumsily. I picked him up and he ran up to cuddle under my chin. I put my hand over his head which immediately seemed to calm him. I took the opportunity to clip his wings a bit since he couldn’t see the scissors. He didn’t even know I did it, which is GREAT since I was really concerned about traumatizing him in the first few weeks of our relationship. I go back and forth on my beliefs on clipping. But I watched him fly around his previous owner’s house, attacking his person’s husband. So I knew that, at least for a while, he’d need to be clipped. I left him in the room for an hour by himself to settle down. When I came back in, his signs of distress had stopped. He took a small piece of apple from me an a bit of carrot. I really wanted to get a little something in him because I was unsure how much he’d be eating the next day.

Day 1

Since I’m off today, I’m taking the day to just hang out quietly in the bedroom so he can get used to my presence. I also brought some of his supposed favorite treats in and figured I’d doing some clicker priming throughout the day. From the looks of his cage paper, he did come down for a bit of food and water while I was sleeping, so that’s a good sign.

In the morning he wasn't interested in apple, carrot, Gus’ pellets, millet, nuts, or seed. He was, however, taking some 12 grain toast, which is the only thing that Gus will ever eat as a treat. I’m going to get some Ezekial bread this week for sure.

For every hour that I spent in the room, I would have his cage door open. He expressed no interest in coming out, which is totally fine. I’ve been clicking and treating him through the cage bars. He's been taking the treats most of the time, and always does so gently and politely. He is, however, growling at me a little. I’ll click, put the treat up to the bars near him, he’ll growl, and then take the treat. Having no experience with Poicephalus, I’m not used to this growling but have been told that indicates fear, aggression, or warning. Wendy from the forum suggests just moving on to targeting to avoid the risk of reinforcing the growling. Unfortunately, Sid is no longer interested in treats so I’ll try again in a few hours, otherwise Ill take his food out before bed and work with him in the morning.

We made a little breakthrough. Sid’s cage door was open whenever I was in the room. Something must have spooked him and he kind of half flew out and landed on the bedroom floor. He stepped up for me and I put him on the top of his cage. He hung out there for a good hour while I sat ont the bed reading. Then he and I started making some clicking and whistling noises back and forth, which is really the first time he interacted with me actively. So yay for that! He also stepped up and we did about 10 step ups. He did break me a little bit once but it definitely wasn’t a real bite. I will try to avoid that in the future, however. I’m giving him some alone time in the room now.

Went back in after an hour. He let me scratch his head through the bars a few times, and took 3 r 4 treats from me without growling. I put the stick I plan to use for targeting near his cage and it didn’t seem to bother him. So hopefully when we start targeting, he’ll be cool.

As the evening has progressed, he moved to a closer to the front perch and was much more talkative and interactive with me. He did come down to his front most perch that is literally 3 feet from me, stood there for about 5 seconds, I praised him, then he went back up to the second closest branch. But that was definitely an improvement. I also asked to scratch his head through the bars and he came over for scratches several times. I also asked him about his pretty toes and he gave me his foot twice. He also let me give him a slice of apple in his cage, not just through the bars! Oh and he also kinda parrot tongue me twice through the bars very gently and nicely. I think this is great progress!!!!

This has also motivated me to retry Gus with clicker. So we did a little target training today and he did well. He can only go for a couple of minutes and then he's bored so I'm going to shorter training sessions. He's not very treat motivated- he really only likes toast and crackers. I'm thinking of making a really healthy birdy bread and toast that. At least he won't just be eating empty junk then.

This is all very exciting!

So it's been a while since I've posted on here. Mostly because I've been busy but most of all because I forgot all about this. ha. I'm now officially a St Louisan, I have a great little place in the city, am playing for the Stunt Devils and the All Stars with the Arch Rival Rollergirls, and am probablly the happiest I've been in many many years.

The biggest news is that I just adopted a Senegal Parrot named Sid! He was living in Irving, Illinois (90 mins outside of stl) with his parents and 2 dogs. Well, apparently one of the dogs wanted to kill Sid. And apparently Sid also wanted to kill his dad. So Sid didn't get out too often so his Mom decided to find him a new home. They were very nice people and I really respect them for making the right decision. I am glad to have Sid as part of the family!!! That's him in the picture there.

Sid is 15 years old, so he's a bit of a senior. You can find different numbers on different sites, but Senegals are expected to live around 30 years in captivity. But frankly, I don't think we know much about anything when it comes to birds, so it could me more, could be less.

Senegals hail from Africa and are of the same parrot species as the well known African Greys. After watching Sid in his home environment, I decided that I would start hin off on clicker training right away. Not only would it help me build trust with him, but show him who rules the roost here, keep his mind occupied, get some excercise, and most imprtantly, it was obvious he needed some re taming! Basically, he would fly around, land on his dad and proceed to run up his shirt and bite him. Or he would haphazardly fly around the room like a little maniac. So that wonb't be happening here. I have clipped his wings slightly so that he cannot get lift. And I will be teaching him manors that I expect him to observe here.

Sid has some fear issues, that is obvious. He's not into new things, he only has one toy that he likes, etc. Honestly, I thought the phobia would be worse but I think once I can give him some confidence and start introducing toys to him through positive methods, I think he'll be much more content.

I'm going to keep a log on here. I have clicker trained before but not with a bird with any sort of behavioral issues. I hope to be able to not only keep track of our progress, but to be able to see where I have made mistakes, and hopefully where I can get some guidance from experienced trainers. So if anyone reading this ever has any advice, criticism, or insight, please feel free to share!!!